English Scandal, Killing Eve vie for Broadcasting Press Guild honours

BBC One and Amazon’s A Very English Scandal and BBC America’s Killing Eve are among the titles nominated for multiple Broadcasting Press Guild Awards. 

The annual awards honour work commissioned or produced in the UK and screened in 2018, and are chosen independently by TV and radio correspondents, critics and reviewers from the UK. The 45th BPG Awards will be held at London’s Banking Hall on 15 March.

A Very English Scandal is nominated for Best Single Drama/Miniseries, going up against BBC One’s Mrs. Wilson and BBC One and Amazon’s The ABC Murders. Scandal’s Hugh Grant and Ben Whishaw are both nominated for Best Actor, while writer Russell T Davies is up for Best Writer.

Elsewhere, Killing Eve is up against the likes of BBC One’s Bodyguard, Sky Atlantic and Showtime’s Patrick Melrose and ITV’s Vanity Fair in the Best Drama Series category.

The BBC America drama also received acting nods for Jodie Comer and Sandra Oh, while writer Phoebe Waller-Bridge is nominated for Best Writer. The drama, which debuted in the UK on digital channel BBC Three, is also up for a Best Online First/Streaming award.

Elsewhere, Best Entertainment nominees include Channel 5’s Cruising with Jane McDonald, BBC One’s Michael McIntyre’s Big Show, BBC Two’s Mortimer and Whitehouse: Gone Fishing, BBC One’s Strictly Come Dancing (series 15) and Dave’s Taskmaster (series 7).

The awards, which are sponsored by Virgin Media, will be attended by the winners, BPG members and leading broadcasting execs.

David Bouchier, Virgin Media Chief Digital Entertainment Officer, said: “Virgin Media is delighted to be sponsoring the Broadcasting Press Guild Awards 2019 for the third consecutive year. It’s great to be a part of this prestigious event that celebrates the TV people love.”

The complete list of nominations are below:

• Best Single Drama/Mini Series
  • A Very English Scandal (BBC One + Amazon)
  • Mrs Wilson (BBC One)
  • The ABC Murders (BBC One + Amazon)
• Best Drama Series
  • Bodyguard (BBC One)
  • Killing Eve (BBC Three + BBC America)
  • Patrick Melrose (Sky Atlantic + Showtime)
  • Vanity Fair (ITV)
• Best Single Documentary
  • Drowning In Plastic (BBC One)
  • Grayson Perry: Rites of Passage (Channel 4)
  • Grenfell (BBC One)
• Best Documentary Series
  • Inside the Foreign Office (BBC Two)
  • Michael Palin In North Korea (Channel 5)
  • Stephen: The Murder That Changed A Nation (BBC One)
  • Why Does Everyone Hate the English? (History)
• Best Online First / Streaming
  • Black Mirror: Bandersnatch (Netflix)
  • Killing Eve (BBC Three)
  • People Just Do Nothing (BBC Three)
  • This Country (BBC Three)
• Best Comedy
  • Car Share (BBC One)
  • Derry Girls (Channel 4)
  • Inside No 9 – Live Halloween Special (BBC Two)
  • Women on the Verge (W)
• Best Entertainment
  • Cruising with Jane McDonald (Channel 5)
  • Michael McIntyre’s Big Show (BBC One)
  • Mortimer and Whitehouse: Gone Fishing (BBC Two)
  • Strictly Come Dancing, Series 15 (BBC One)
  • Taskmaster, Series 7 (Dave)
• Best Actor
  • Ben Whishaw, A Very English Scandal
  • Benedict Cumberbatch, Patrick Melrose
  • Hugh Grant, A Very English Scandal
• Best Actress
  • Jodie Comer, Killing Eve
  • Keeley Hawes, Bodyguard + Mrs Wilson
  • Ruth Wilson, Mrs Wilson
  • Sandra Oh, Killing Eve
• Best of Multichannel
  • Patrick Melrose (Sky Atlantic + Showtime)
  • Taskmaster, Series 7 (Dave)
  • Why Does Everyone Hate the English? (History)
  • Women on the Verge (W)
• Best Writer
  • David Nicholls, Patrick Melrose (Sky Atlantic + Showtime)
  • Lisa McGee, Derry Girls (Channel 4)
  • Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Killing Eve (BBC Three + BBC America)
  • Russell T Davies, A Very English Scandal (BBC One + Amazon)

• Innovation in Broadcasting Award
  • Cameroon: Anatomy of a Killing, BBC Africa Eye – for exposing ‘fake news’ claims
  • Black Mirror: Bandersnatch, Netflix – for a ground-breaking form of storytelling
  • The Circle, Channel 4 – for taking the next step in factual entertainment